Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Great Shelford. Before I get started I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and most are in Great Shelford - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two flats in Great Shelford which have about forty five years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Great Shelford is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with under 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Great Shelford conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a Great Shelford conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Great Shelford conveyancing firm) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggested that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Great Shelford conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be helpful:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

What volume of lease extensions have they completed in Great Shelford in the last year?

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Great Shelford from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Great Shelford can be reduced where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Great Shelford levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Great Shelford.

If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.

If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Arranging a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Great Shelford conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £425000 garden flat in Great Shelford in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £324 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Great Shelford?

For most leasehold sales in Great Shelford conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Great Shelford
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Great Shelford leasehold premises is £350. For Great Shelford conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to supply answers.

Great Shelford Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries before buying

Many Great Shelford leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the block levied on behalf of the freeholder. Should you buy the property you will have to pay this liability, normally in instalments accross the year. This can differ from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a significant amount, say approximately £50-£100 but you should to check as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. Who manages the building? How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Great Shelford